Ignorance is a Bliss
by Khorale
Summary: It's been a month, and Madara's missing. Izuna attempts to find him with some help here and there, but something ominous lurks in the truth of the Uchiha's disappearance... Sequel to The Seasons of Change.
1. A month later

**This story can stand alone, or you can read 'the Seasons of Change' first to clear off some confusion. Otherwise, treat this as AU. (Though techincally, after chapter 559, it IS, in fact, AU.)**

**So there was this organization that wanted to take over the world, called the Itonami (Life). They decided to put all the leaders in the Elemental Countries out of the picture, plunging said countries into chaos.  
**

**Then, after a long time of bickering and stuff, the Leaders agreed to an alliance with each other to escape. There was this battle, which the Itonami lost. (By the way, that organization is full of people presumed dead : Minato, Karura, Utakata, Zabuza, Tauyua, and Izuna. Plus one OC which was not very important, so don't worry.)  
**

**Utakata turned out to be the real leader of the Itonami, and long story short, challenged Madara to a battle in the Valley of the End.  
**

* * *

Izuna paced inside the Hokage's office, looking worried.

"It's been a month." he kept muttering. "Where is he?"

It had been a month since the Incident. One month since Madara went to the Valley of the End and never came back.

"He told me he wouldn't die! He promised!"

"Calm down." snapped Tsunade. "Maybe he was wounded and had to hide out in some cave to heal. And you know that he doesn't like Konoha."

Izuna blinked. "That... was actually a plausible choice." he admitted.

The past month had been so hectic that there wasn't the time to even mention the word 'Madara'. Between breaking up fights, political meetings, explanations, and replacement of the Konoha Civilian Council, there had been no free time at all.

Izuna had declined to living in Konoha, mainly because the civilian population thought he was dead. And it would cause a panic if he pretended to be a zombie.

"Shouldn't you be searching for him?" Tsunade's voice startled him out of his thoughts.

"Well, yeah. But I still need to-"

"Just leave that to Shizune." Tsunade sighed. "Go find your brother, he's not here after an entire month, and that just screams 'trouble'."

"Oh." Izuna said awkwardly, "How long do it take for me to go to the Valley of the End?"

"Seven hours."

Izuna gaped at her, "Wha-"

"For you. You're like seventy or something, of course it's going to take long!"

Izuna sighed. "Is there any other short cuts?"

"No... Unless you want me to get someone to carry you all the way there?"

"NO!" Izuna yelped, going red in embarrassment at the thought. He was a capable ninja! It would shatter his reputation to be carried around like a baby.

There was a popping noise, and a puff of smoke. When it cleared, there was a bag on Tsunade's desk on top of the paperwork, and a sticky note pinned on it,

Rin'negan eye takes you to the next location

Mangekyou eye gives you back your power

Squeeze it and get a surprise!

- Love, Khorale

PS, the Girl Guide Cookie gags have sadly ended_  
_

The two of them looked dumbfounded.

"The only one who has Rin'negan is Madara! Do you think..." Izuna trailed off.

"The package's too small for a person to fit in. Unless it was his head?"

"No way! Khorale wouldn't do that!" though it COULD have been from Hinote...

"Just open it."

Inside, there was a plushie of Madara, armor and all.

"...Kinda cute." Tsunade said, peering at the little doll.

"My brother has his own merchandise." Izuna twitched, looking at the 'Toys R Us' logo. "Well, here it goes..." he said, poking Madara-plushie ("I herby dub thee 'Chibi!'")'s Rin'negan eyes.

Instantly, a vortex of swirls swept the two (Izuna and Chibi) away, scattering the paperwork everywhere, and spilled ink on the Hokage's desk.

"..." Tsunade stared at the mess. "SHIZUNE! COME GIVE ME A HAND IN THIS!"

* * *

Izuna was a bit dizzy as he arrived at his first destination.

"Why am I at Amegakure?" he wondered.

The clues are set in chronological order, of course it wouldn't take you to the Valley first. I told him bluntly.

He sighed. "Oh well, might as well visit the Akatsuki." he headed off to the cave where he knew the Hideout was.

Izuna knocked on the stone door three times, but then decided that nobody could hear it. So he kicked down the door and marched right inside.

There was nobody in the living room, and Izuna didn't know anything about where those hallways lead to, and he didn't want to take any chances.

Luckily, there was the stairs that he could take to go to the Ame tower, where he knew Pein's real body resided.

"This is going to take forever." Izuna muttered. He had saw from the outside how TALL the tower is. He glanced at Chibi, still in his hands.

"Squeeze him and get a surprise?" He asked aloud, staring at the plushie. "Might as well try it. I am in real need of a surprise."

Chibi gave a loud squeak (which was hilarious in his brother's voice), and Izuna found himself standing right before Nagato.

The two occupants of the room gave a start at the sudden appearance of Madara's brother.

"Izuna?" Nagato asked, tensing as he had no idea if the Uchiha was friend or foe.

"Relax." he sighed. "Itonami and all that other stuff is over. What I want to know is that if you know anything about Madara in this past month."

"And why do you think I know?" Nagato asked curiously.

Izuna shrugged, "Author sent me here, so that's got to be something."

"And you believe her?"

"Well, yeah. Since when had she ever lied to us?"

"I wouldn't know," Nagato said sarcastically, "What about the time she didn't bother to warn us about the Ry-"

"The Incident." Izuna interrupted helpfully.

"Whatever. She withheld crucial information, laid waste to all the effort the Akatsuki had put into the Moon-Eye plan that we've put five years of hard work into, and now Madara's missing AGAIN!"

"Wasn't my fault this time," Izuna denied, "and I got your point. So, any information?"

"I detected a flare of chakra near the area you were speaking of," Konan said thoughtfully, "it was more than a week ago. Two chakra signatures are flickering, and then there was this massive flare of energy. I could have sworn this tower was shaking."

"Then it died down." concluded Nagato. "Nothing."

Izuna nodded, "say, Nagato? Do you want to come with me on this adventure? I'm sure you've got nothing to do and such..."

Nagato shrugged, "Actually, I do. Being God and all. But I can spare my Deva path for you."

"Thanks."

"This is Yahiko's body." Nagato said ominously, "treat him well."

"I...er...yeah." Izuna said intelligently (note the sarcasm, guys). He did not know who this 'Yahiko' was, but appearantly he's important to Nagato. "Alright, let's go, then."

"To where?" Pein asked.

"I don't know."

Facepalm. "You're hopeless."

Izuna shook his head, "I may not know where to go, but Chibi here does." he pointed to his plushie.

Pein laughed, "you seriously called him that?"

A nod.

Then Izuna poked Chibi in the Rin'negan eye, and the three of them disappeared (with a startled yelp from Pein).

Nagato looked at the paperwork scattered around the room, and sighed. Deva Path gets all the luck. "Konan, come give me a hand in this."

* * *

The three (Izuna, Chibi, and Pein) appeared, slightly disoriented, miles and miles away.

"Where are we?" Pein asked! Dazed from the spinning.

Izuna turned around, and was alarmed at their surroundings.

But before he could warn Pein, a slithering voice sounded next to them.

"Kukuku... What have we here?" Orochimaru asked.

They were in Otogakure.

* * *

**Wow... 'Tis really been a long time!**

**This is not as long as tSoC, and I would have had this finished quickly, but I started reading other manga, and the fandom that comes with it, that I have little time for this.**

**But be assured, I am not abandoning the Naruto Fandom, I was just caught up in a variety of other ones. Death Note, Bleach, Kuroshitsuji... I've read more manga in a single week than I did in a year!  
**

**So yeah, I was scouting out the other fandoms, which didn't leave time for this story. Sorry!  
**

**PS, Chapter two is still in progress.  
**


	2. Journey for clues

**It's me again! It's been a while. I was going into other fandoms and hadn't paid much attention to this one. Sorry.  
**

**Sorry for the LONG author note from last time, but I had to give a summary for tSoC**

* * *

The two backed away from Orochimaru. Izuna knew that even though the snake Sannin had helped his brother before, he was still dangerous and perfectly at ease with changing sides.

"Kukuku..." Orochimaru chuckled, "What are you doing here?"

"We are here for information on the battle that occurred last month. Do you remember Madara and Utakata?" asked Pein. He seemed unaffected by the traitor's presence, but Izuna knew he was seething back at the Ame tower.

"Oh? And why do you think I have such information?"

Izuna couldn't tell him about a magical plushie that teleported them there. Who would believe them? They would sooner be labeled as 'crazy' than getting some help.  
The Uchiha pounded his mind for explanations, and then remembered about the _other_ battle in the Valley.

"The battle grounds are very close to here. You remember the path Uchiha Sasuke took to reach Oto from Kohoha? The Valley of the End is located in the middle, and so you should have seen their fight."

Orochimaru blinked for ma moment, then laughed, "Kukuku, you're absolutely right. However, I didn't see much of it after a blast headed our way and nearly destroyed my village.

"So what did happen?" Izuna demanded.

"I was working in my office when there was an explosion. It must have been big if it reached that far a distance, so I went to check what was going on." Orochimaru began, "But when the smoke cleared, there was nobody there. There was flashes of light, and the sound of metal against metal, and bursts of chakra. So I concluded they must be using genjutsu." He glanced back at Izuna.

"So you're useless because you can't see them," Pein deadpanned.

Orochimaru backtracked, "No! I know someone who was there and could see through the illusions!"

"Who?"

"He had yellow hair, and was flying on something white. He had an Akatsuki cloak, though I've never seen hm before. I didn't to see him very clearly because he disappeared when one of the stone statues in the Valley toppled."

Pein paused for a moment of thought, then he said, "Deidara."

"Orochimaru said he never seen him before," Izuna noted.

"Of course he hadn't," Pein said, "Deidara joined after Orochimaru left the organization. He had trained himself to resist illusions because of his humiliating loss against Itachi."

Izuna nodded silently. He turned to Orochimaru, "Is there anything else...?"

"Help rebuilding my village would be nice," Orochimaru said sulkily, "After all, it's your brother's fault..."

"And what payment will you give us?" asked Pein, "We are not doing this for free."

"Kabuto has completed making a de-aging potion," Orochimaru said, "I bet you need it a lot, old man. You too, Pein, I've seen your real body, and it's not a pretty sight."

"How many years would it remove?" Izuna asked, "And will it affect my mind in any way?"

"It's sixty years, so if you split it between you two, you'll remove thirty years. And no, it would only clear your mind more. You will still have your memories," Orochimaru said seriously. Izuna knew he was truthful, because however dishonest a man Orochimaru is, he takes his experiments so seriously that he was obsessed. Being kicked out of Konoha was one of the examples of that.

Izuna is 70 years old. He can age unlike his immortal brother, so after drinking the potion, he would be 40. Still double the age of what he wanted to be, but it's still better than being an old man.

"I've measured them all," Kabuto said, pointing to the six cups, "One cup is ten years of age."

"I helped, Jesus-sama!" the ever-present boy at Kabuto's side chirped happily.

Izuna's eyebrow rose, "Just what are you teaching that child, Kabuto?"

"Um... He followed me home," Kabuto said resignedly, looking ready to cry, "Take him! Have him as a part of your search-team! Just get him away from me!"

"No! I don't wanna go!" The boy retorted.

Izuna sighed and gestured towards the boy. He did feel a bit sorry for Kaburo, "We'll return him after this mission."

He took out Chibi and poked the rinnegan eye. This time, as they warped away from Orochimaru's office, he didn't feel so dizzy. Maybe he was getting used to this...

"I'll be back, Jesus-sama!" The child called back, his voice fading away ominously.

Kabuto shuddered.

A gust of wind caused by their departure swept across the room, scattering paperwork everywhere.

"KABUTO! GIVE ME A HAND IN THIS!"

* * *

They were in an underground cave.

So far, the trio had found nobody, and were frustrated because they didn't know _why_ they were sent here. The battle was not underground, so there wouldn't be any evidence of a fight here.

"I suggest we squeeze Chibi," Izuna said.

"I suggest we rest a while and drink the potion already," Pein growled.

Izuna stared at the cups. While he knew the Sanin was not going to poison them (Pein was technically a corpse, so he'll have to seal his cups away until he meet his real body again), he was still weary of the clear-looking liquid that was smelling of fish.

"Wait, why do I have five cups?" he asked Pein.

"I am young, unlike how my real body might suggest," said Pein, "Taking more than a cup may kill me."

Izuna nodded, and took the cup.

Instantly, the weariness faded away. Izuna felt his eyesight getting better and his bones strengthening. The wrinkles faded into smooth skin. He could see his hair growing darker in colour, no longer streaked with white.

Also, he seemed... shorter.

But anyways, Izuna is twenty years old again! Though he would still age normally, he would be living longer than he should be, his health would always be excellent, and have a strong immune system.

"Wow," his voice was higher too, "It really worked."

Pein snorted, "Orochimaru's trying to develop a way to immortality, would you be surprised that he has something like this up his sleeve?"

"No," Izuna admitted.

"Can we just go?" the child whined, "I wanna go back to Jesus-sama!"

"Kid, we don't _know _where we are so we _can't_ go findiing Kabuto," said Pein.

They started walking again, trudging through the slippery cavern floors and searching for something thy don't know. It sounded ridiculous, but the trio kept going. Finally they reached the end of the cave, where someone's silohette shone against the sunlight...

* * *

**I have writers block for this story, lost the notebook that kept all the notes I had for this, and other stuff happens. I've also wrote other stories that could be seen on my profile, though none of them in the Naruto fandom. Sorry!**


End file.
